Candeo Hotels Kyoto Karasuma Rokkaku

The highlight of our stay here was definitely the hot spring. It’s a very zen atmosphere and super relaxing - felt great to visit at the end of a long day of sight seeing. It also was never super busy, which is nice (though we came during a slower travel time). The property itself is quite nice and unique. I like the traditional aspects in the main lobby and the room was pretty modern and chic. The location was also nice, as it was situated quite close to some of the places we wanted to go (such as the market). The only downside of our stay is that I didn’t find the service to be all that accommodating. For example, there is a sign in the lobby stating that they will not call a taxi on your behalf. At one point, I reached out for a recommendation on where there might be parking around the hotel but they didn’t bother to respond. Lastly, we used the on site laundry, which was a nice perk, but were maybe 5 minutes delayed in picking our laundry out of the dryer and they took everything out and put it in a bag. Our clothes weren’t fully dry and since it was shoved into a bag, it’s was all wrinkly as well. I understand there may have been a queue so we should have been more timely, but we followed the timing guidelines provided on the machine and it didn’t appear to be correct.

A unique old + new hotel with interesting features and a nice onsen.

Lovely

Fantastic hotel. It felt almost like a fusion between ryokan and hotel. The rooms were modern with regular western beds and bathrooms but everything else felt more like a ryokan. Great location close to everything.

Amazing

Entry of the hotel is amazing. Hotel receptionist needs to speak louder as I couldn't hear his voice in English...

Good location. Great Onsen. Rooms were small. Was not clear that we would be paying for breakfast. Breakfast was not good. The bar area is not conducive to hanging out. weird set up. They would not call a taxi for us. This is a stated on a sign that the taxis will not stop there, even though a taxi did drop us off there. It was a pain to go up to the main street with our luggage in the rain and get a taxi there. Busy street, hard for taxis to pull over. The big watchout for this hotel is fire safety. We were on the third floor and I wanted to take the stairs down to ground level, the door to stairs was locked. There was a sign that said not to take the stairs except for emergency, which is fine but did not know that which is why I tried to take the stairs. But if it had been an emergency there would be no way for me to use the stairs to get out. I mentioned this to the front desk when checking out and he said something to the effect of "we would go and unlock in an emergency". It's not necessary to point out how crazy that statement is, is it?

I loved the mix of traditional and temporary architecture.

Great hotel for exploring Kyoto! Short walk from the subway station that connects to Kyoto Station. The hotel entrance is actually an historic wooden structure with some cool common areas. Tourists will stop in during the day to take pictures of it. The library has a 24-hour coffee machine and you sit on the floor (there are tables and cushions). Breakfast can be ordered a day in advance (bento box), but there are plenty of options nearby. There's a pastry shop maybe 50 meters away where you will see people queue up for at 7a. The rooms themselves are a modern structure and are a bit on the small size, but they are comfortable for two. The spa/bath areas are excellent (segregated). There are two laundry machines, but keep in mind these are not full-size Western machines.

期待していた通りでした。